This short film by Jordan Manley is one of the most inspiring ski films I have seen. This is the kind of stuff I like to watch and what I want to get into too. Friends skiing in remote places in amazing settings. Looking forward to skiing again. 😉
[vimeo http://vimeo.com/33516816]
I’ve been back in England now for a week and leg is doing well. This experience has really changed my perceptions of challenge and adventure. Before my accident I would feel pride in myself if I managed to climb one of the 6 great north faces of the Alps or redpoint a sport climbing project now, however I feel the same pride from climbing the stairs or walking (hopping) to the pub. It is kind of good in a way as It feels like I have to start all over again and to be honest I am really enjoying the challenge. I had never really spent any real amount of time in hospital before this and it was difficult to say the least. I didn’t sleep well and all the drugs and medications really wiped me out. I’ve been off the stuff for the last few days now and I’m starting to feel a lot better. I’m pretty much pain free now and I have a much greater range of motion in my knee. With the exception of carrying hot food and drink whilst moving about I can pretty much do all the things I need to for getting about the house now. I’m still struggling with…
Learning to take the Rough with the Smooth.
I have had a dream year out in Chamonix skiing and climbing with my friends, but like all good things they eventually come to an end, or so I’ve been told. I never really believed ‘them’, my youthful arrogance or general positive nature persuaded me that I would continue learning, getting stronger and climbing and skiing harder. I have not been injured for some three years now and to this date I have never sustained an injury from climbing. On Saturday the 10th however I managed to ‘accomplish’ my first ‘Season Ender’ in a particularly unspectacular skiing crash at the Grand Montets ski area in Chamonix. I managed to break my leg hitting a rock whilst skiing some questionably worthwhile off-piste on my second run of the second day’s skiing this season. I have been informed that I take this years prize of “le premier genou de la saison ” I.e the first knee of the season. Here’s how it happened.
I have kept a kind of journal since the accident. I’m not looking for sympathy from posting it and yes I know people have had worse experiences but it has taken a lot of courage form me to post this here for the world to see. Here it is.
Its been a reasonably hectic last few weeks for me without a lot of really interesting stuff to write about. I’m currently back in the UK for the next few week’s waiting for the snow to hit Scotland so I can do some winter climbing up there. Just coming out of the two day hangover which was Kendal mountain film festival which was a thoroughly enjoyable weekend. Before that I spent one night in London where I went to see the new North face film about Gasherbrum 2 and had a catch up with some mates down there. Before I left for all this me and Ally Swinton had a go at the Desmasion/Gouseault on the North Face of the Grandes Jorasses which was cut short due to a combination of factors but mainly the lack of gaz and lots of spindrift which slowed us down in the first few hours on the face. Here’s some photo’s of what we we managed to do.
Today we went to the zoo. We saw lots of animals and had lots of fun. My favourate was the Moose and the Dinosaur….
Over the coming period I will be doing some gear reviews for Cold Thistle.
Its an internationally know blog run by a friend of mine, Dane Burns
Check out my rescent review of My Grivel G20’s and my Scarpa 6000’s.
Here my Grivel G20 review there:
http://coldthistle.blogspot.com/2011/11/grivels-g20-monopoint.html
Here is my Scarpa 6000 review there:
http://coldthistle.blogspot.com/2011/11/scarpa-6000-boot-review-by-dave-searle.html
Yesterday we headed up for Pinocchio on the east face of Tacul. We had a leasurely 2nd bin start as usual and poodled on down to the bottom of the face. We were greated with great conditions and superb mixed climbing over the 7 pitchs we did. Our original plan was to hit Scotch On The Rocks but Pinnochio looked better so we went for that instead. Its not a good idea to get on these routes too early in my opinion as the sun is still on them untill 11 ish which is when we started climbing. We climbed to the top oof the pillar Martinetti and then abbed back down the route as the light started to go. Gabbarou- Albinoni and Modica-Norry look really good right now as well. Here’s some photo’s…..
So what have I been up too over the last few weeks….. hmmmmm. This and that you know, rock climbing, working, etc. Me and ally walked up to the bottom of the Dru to get on the North Coulior only to find that the glacier to the base of the route wasn’t having any of it and had decided to put a large gnarly crevasse in our way. Still as always its a good place to bivy and we were treated to an amazing sunset but the access is a no go for this autumn. Apart from that I’ve been rock climbing with my mate’s Ross Hewitt, Sandy Simpson, and Ally. We enjoyed two days of granite sport climbing up at the Getroz and Bouchy…. heres some photo’s…..
I recently got back from climbing the Croz Spur with the Slovenian start with my friend Ben O’Connor Croft. I have wanted to climb this route on the Grandes Jorasses for sometime now. It was great to finally get it ticked. The climbing was varied and for the most part good, with the exception of the penultimate pitch which was quite tricky with steep, broken rock and poor protection. Normally this pitch has more ice in it but this year it is quite dry so it’s been putting up a bit of a fight! We were one of three teams on the route that day and I’ve been informed we were the only team to make it over the top with the other two teams being helicoptered from just below this ‘crux’ pitch. This however wasn’t the only helicopter action that the Jorasses saw that day….
With such a strong high pressure sat over the Alps at the moment it would be rude not to make the most of it. Especially as my driving work has all but stopped. We decided to head up to the Argentiere basin to check it out. We had our sights set on the Colton-Brooks on the north face Of the Droites. We had no idea what the conditions were like on the bottom half of the face as its impossible to see from the valley but we decided it was worth a punt!!
Here’s how it went…..